This past week has not been kind to Hollywood with the devastating losses of Betty White, Sidney Poitier and Peter Bogdanovich, all veritable show business legends. Though White and Poitier lived well into their 90s, the passing of Bogdanovich at 82 felt particularly untimely, especially considering the legendary director’s larger-than-life personality which included an unrelenting penchant for wearing ascots and thick horn-rimmed glasses up until the very end.
With first wife, famed production designer Polly Platt, by his side, Bogdanovich saw early successes helming such classic films as “The Last Picture Show,” “Paper Moon” and “What’s Up, Doc?” But following the couple’s messy 1971 divorce (which was famously made the subject of the film “Irreconcilable Differences”), his career took a steep downturn with the director becoming far more well-known for his exploits with his much-younger female leads (such as Cybill Shepherd, Colleen Camp and Dorothy Stratten), though there is no denying the indelible legacy he leaves behind.
One rare anomaly of his post-Platt career was the 1985 biopic “Mask.” With a screenplay penned by Anna Hamilton Phelan, the film chronicles the phenomenal true story of Roy Lee “Rocky” Dennis (Eric Stoltz), a young boy who suffered from craniodiaphyseal dysplasia. As explained by the All That’s Interesting website, “The disease severely distorted his facial features due to his skull’s abnormal growth, making his head twice its normal size. Pressure caused by the abnormal calcium deposits in Dennis’ skull pushed his eyes toward the edges of his head, and his nose became stretched into an abnormal shape as well. The doctors told his mother that Rocky would progressively become deaf, blind, and suffer a severe mental disability before the weight of his skull destroyed his brain. Based on six other known cases of the disease, they predicted the boy wouldn’t live past seven.” Rocky proved pretty much everyone wrong, though, living to the age of 16 before ultimately passing away from the disease in 1978.
Throughout his life, Rocky not only persevered but thrived, in large part due to his mother, Florence “Rusty” Dennis (Cher), who instilled a perennially positive attitude in him from a young age. Deemed a “star student” by All That’s Interesting, he wound up graduating with honors from Sandburg Junior High, where he was extremely popular with his fellow students. He also won the “Best Buddy,” “Most Good-Natured” and “Friendliest Camper” awards at the summer camp he attended. Rocky’s life was short but extraordinary, so it is no wonder his story found its way to the screen.
Featuring an all-star cast that, along with Stoltz and Cher, included Estelle Getty, Sam Elliott and Laura Dern, “Mask” went on to become both a box office and critical success, with Cher ultimately winning the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com Though set primarily in Azusa, the San Gabriel Valley city Rocky and Rusty called home in real life, Bogdonivich pegged a small Craftsman in nearby Monrovia to portray the duo’s onscreen residence, where the two lived with their menagerie of pets. Situated on a sleepy corner just a few blocks from the city’s quaint Old Town, the one-story pad can be found at 138 Grand Ave. (Please remember this is a private home. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the property in any way.)
Completed in the summer of 1922, the dwelling’s first owners were Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Gross. The couple dubbed their new home “Grandview.” Sadly, Rudolph, who served as the president of the Toledo, Ohio-based Gross Photo Supply Company, passed away in May 1923, less than a year after moving in. His widow subsequently put the place up for lease with an ad in the Monrovia Daily News touting its location on a “paved street” as a main selling point. The neighborhood and nearby roadways have certainly changed since then (you’d be hard-pressed to find a non-paved artery in Monrovia nowadays) but the former Gross residence remains something of a relic.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com While the pad hasn’t been on the market in over four decades, last selling for $60,500 in 1981, it was recently put up for lease, affording both real estate voyeurs and “Mask” fans a fabulous glimpse at the interior.
Per the listing information, the modest property features two bedrooms and one bath in 1,100 square feet. Amenities include “new laminated” wood flooring, a living room, a formal dining room, a laundry room and an eat-in kitchen with a separate entry. Situated on a large corner lot measuring 0.19 acres, the structure also boasts a wraparound front porch and mature foliage.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com Featured prominently throughout “Mask,” the home is the film’s most significant location, serving as both Rusty and Rocky’s sanctuary from the surrounding world. Though some updates have since been made to the exterior, incredibly, the place still looks much the same today as it did when it was originally captured by Bodgonavich’s camera more than three decades ago! Aside from a new paint color, the removal of the chain-link perimeter fencing and an altered porch railing, the pad is entirely recognizable from its 1985 cameo.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com As evidenced by the MLS images, the home’s actual interior was featured in the film, as well, and it, too, has been left largely untouched in the 30-plus years since filming took place – right down to the uniquely angled stove in the kitchen!
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Image Credit: Realtor.com Though somewhat dated, the inside boasts a plethora of fabulous original details, including a slew of built-ins and gorgeously framed windows, all of which are visible in “Mask.”
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Image Credit: Realtor.com Even the pad’s retro bathroom, where Rocky heartbreakingly reads Rusty a poem he wrote for school, has been left intact, though the tesserae tile counters have since been painted over. Otherwise, the pad is a veritable holdover from its big-screen cameo, which is a comforting thought considering the many heartbreaking losses the movie industry has suffered recently.